(SI) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning or good afternoon, all, and welcome to today's Silvergate Capital Corporation Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Adam, and I'll be your operator today. (Operator Instructions)

大家早上好或下午好，歡迎參加今天的 Silvergate Capital Corporation 第四季度和 2021 年全年收益電話會議。我的名字是亞當，今天我將成為你的接線員。 （操作員說明）

I will now hand you over to Hunter Stenback to begin. So, Hunter, please go ahead when you are ready.

我現在將把你交給 Hunter Stenback 開始。所以，亨特，準備好後請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in the Silvergate Capital Corporation's Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. With me here today are Alan Lane, our Chief Executive Officer; Tony Martino, our Chief Financial Officer; and Ben Reynolds, our Chief Strategy Officer. As a reminder, a telephonic replay of this call will be available through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on February 1, 2022. Access to the replay is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website. Additionally, a slide deck to complement today's discussion is available on the IR section of our website.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。感謝您參加 Silvergate Capital Corporation 的 2021 年第四季度財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的還有我們的首席執行官艾倫·萊恩；我們的首席財務官 Tony Martino；和我們的首席戰略官 Ben Reynolds。提醒一下，此電話的電話重播將持續到晚上 11:59。東部時間 2022 年 2 月 1 日。也可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分訪問重播。此外，我們網站的 IR 部分還提供了一個幻燈片來補充今天的討論。

Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call may contain certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include remarks about management's future expectations, beliefs, estimates, plans and prospects. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. Such risks and other factors are set forth in our periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements. Now I would like to turn the call over to Alan.

在開始之前，讓我提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含構成 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述的某些陳述。其中包括有關管理層未來預期、信念、估計、計劃和前景的評論。此類聲明受各種風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，包括 COVID-19 大流行，可能導致實際結果與此類聲明所表明或暗示的結果存在重大差異。這些風險和其他因素在我們提交給證券交易委員會的定期報告和當前報告中列出。我們不承擔更新此類前瞻性陳述的任何義務。現在我想把電話轉給艾倫。

Thank you, Hunter, and good morning, everyone. 2021 was another year of significant growth and momentum for Silvergate Capital Corporation. We further positioned Silvergate as a leader in the fast-growing digital currency industry, demonstrating the strength of our business and our model.

謝謝你，亨特，大家早上好。 2021 年是 Silvergate Capital Corporation 又一個顯著增長和動力的一年。我們進一步將 Silvergate 定位為快速增長的數字貨幣行業的領導者，展示了我們的業務和模式的實力。

Before I dive into our quarterly results, I'd like to take a step back and reflect on some of our accomplishments over the past year. First, full year 2021 net income available to common shareholders of $75.5 million nearly tripled compared to 2020, driven by an increase in fee income to $35.8 million and significant growth in our balance sheet. We also saw record demand from our customers that require the ability to move U.S. dollars in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using our API-enabled proprietary Silvergate Exchange Network, or SEN, resulting in $787 billion of SEN transfers in 2021.

在深入了解我們的季度業績之前，我想退後一步，回顧一下我們在過去一年中取得的一些成就。首先，與 2020 年相比，普通股股東可獲得的 2021 年全年淨收入為 7550 萬美元，幾乎是 2020 年的三倍，這得益於費用收入增加到 3580 萬美元以及我們的資產負債表顯著增長。我們還看到客戶的創紀錄需求，他們要求能夠使用我們支持 API 的專有 Silvergate 交換網絡 (SEN) 每週 7 天、每天 24 小時實時轉移美元，從而在2021 年。

Third, we scaled SEN Leverage, our Bitcoin collateralized lending product, to $571 million in commitments and announced partnerships with 2 additional digital asset custodians. Fourth, we continued to lay the groundwork for our stablecoin infrastructure technology offering. And finally, we completed 4 capital raises totaling $1.3 billion to support our record deposit growth. As I've noted in the past, our growth won't always be linear, but I'm incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve over the past 12 months.

第三，我們將我們的比特幣抵押貸款產品 SEN Leverage 的承諾規模擴大到 5.71 億美元，並宣布與另外 2 家數字資產託管人建立合作夥伴關係。第四，我們繼續為我們的穩定幣基礎設施技術產品奠定基礎。最後，我們完成了 4 次融資，總額達 13 億美元，以支持我們創紀錄的存款增長。正如我過去所指出的，我們的增長並不總是線性的，但我為過去 12 個月所取得的成就感到無比自豪。

Now turning to our fourth quarter results. The number of customers on the SEN platform expanded to 1,381 this quarter, an increase of over 400 customers for 2021. Our pipeline of potential new digital currency customers remains robust as we continue to benefit from the powerful network effects created by the SEN. SEN transfer volume of $219 million in the fourth quarter increased 35% on a sequential basis and 270% on an annual basis. As we did last quarter, we continued to work with coin metrics to better understand how SEN activity is correlated to the broader industry. According to its data, both Bitcoin and Ethereum dollar trading volumes increased in the fourth quarter and remained highly correlated with trends on the SEN, as you can see on Slide 5 of our presentation. Transaction revenue from digital currency customers of $9.3 million in the fourth quarter increased nearly 146% compared to a year ago, reflecting continued strong demand for cash management and foreign currency exchange services.

現在轉向我們的第四季度業績。本季度，SEN 平台上的客戶數量擴大到 1,381 家，到 2021 年增加了 400 多家。我們的潛在新數字貨幣客戶渠道仍然強勁，因為我們繼續受益於 SEN 創造的強大網絡效應。第四季度的 SEN 轉賬金額為 2.19 億美元，環比增長 35%，同比增長 270%。正如我們上個季度所做的那樣，我們繼續使用代幣指標來更好地了解 SEN 活動如何與更廣泛的行業相關聯。根據其數據，比特幣和以太坊美元的交易量在第四季度都有所增加，並且與 SEN 的趨勢保持高度相關，正如您在我們演示文稿的幻燈片 5 中看到的那樣。第四季度來自數字貨幣客戶的交易收入為 930 萬美元，同比增長近 146%，反映出對現金管理和外幣兌換服務的持續強勁需求。

Turning to SEN Leverage. Total approved lines of credit increased significantly from last quarter to $571 million compared to $323 million at the end of the third quarter. The rapid growth of SEN Leverage commitments demonstrates the product's powerful use case and strong demand from our customers for a collateralized lending option to maximize their capital efficiency. Additionally, SEN Leverage continued to perform as designed, with 0 losses to date and no forced liquidations.

轉向 SEN 槓桿。與第三季度末的 3.23 億美元相比，批准的信貸額度總額較上一季度大幅增加至 5.71 億美元。 SEN 槓桿承諾的快速增長表明該產品的強大用例以及我們客戶對抵押貸款選擇的強烈需求，以最大限度地提高其資本效率。此外，SEN Leverage 繼續按設計執行，迄今為止 0 損失並且沒有強制清算。

Driven by continued demand for the SEN, average deposits from digital currency customers grew to $13.3 billion, another record, compared to an average of $11.2 billion during the third quarter and $2.6 billion during the same quarter last year. Tony will discuss period-end deposits further in a moment.

在對 SEN 持續需求的推動下，數字貨幣客戶的平均存款增至 133 億美元，再創紀錄，而第三季度的平均存款為 112 億美元，去年同期為 26 億美元。托尼稍後將進一步討論期末存款。

Finally, before I turn it over to Tony, I wanted to briefly discuss some of our latest initiatives. First, in December, we announced the launch of EJF Silvergate Ventures fund, which is a joint investment vehicle focused on early-stage startups, which are developing technologies that are poised for broad adoption in finance, including real-time payments, digital assets and Banking-as-a-Service. In partnership with EJF Capital, we're excited about the opportunity to support entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of the digital currency ecosystem, which will allow us to stay ahead of the curve as the next generation of products come to market.

最後，在我把它交給托尼之前，我想簡要討論一下我們的一些最新舉措。首先，在 12 月，我們宣布推出 EJF Silvergate Ventures 基金，這是一個專注於早期初創公司的聯合投資工具，這些初創公司正在開發準備在金融領域廣泛採用的技術，包括實時支付、數字資產和銀行即服務。通過與 EJF Capital 合作，我們很高興有機會支持正在塑造數字貨幣生態系統未來的企業家，這將使我們能夠在下一代產品上市時保持領先地位。

Next, I wanted to provide an update on our stablecoin infrastructure initiative. Notably, the report on stablecoins issued by the President's Working Group in November confirms our belief that as an insured depository institution, Silvergate can play an important role as stablecoins are brought within a federally regulated prudential framework. We continue to believe that stablecoins will become a meaningful payment rail for businesses and consumers around the world, and Silvergate is well positioned to deliver this product to our customers in 2022.

接下來，我想提供有關我們穩定幣基礎設施計劃的最新信息。值得注意的是，總統工作組 11 月發布的關於穩定幣的報告證實了我們的信念，即作為一家有保險的存款機構，Silvergate 可以發揮重要作用，因為穩定幣被納入聯邦監管的審慎框架。我們仍然相信，穩定幣將成為全球企業和消費者有意義的支付渠道，Silvergate 已做好準備在 2022 年向我們的客戶提供該產品。

To this end, during the fourth quarter, we updated our application with the New York DFS to form a limited-purpose trust company that we believe will allow us to hold U.S. dollars stablecoin reserves in a capital-efficient manner. We continue to have an open dialogue with our regulators and look forward to launching this product in the coming quarters. I'm incredibly proud of all that we accomplished in 2021. And as we look forward to 2022 and beyond, I am extremely excited about the opportunities and areas for growth that lie ahead.

為此，在第四季度，我們更新了我們與紐約 DFS 的申請，成立了一家有限目的信託公司，我們相信這將使我們能夠以資本高效的方式持有美元穩定幣儲備。我們將繼續與監管機構進行公開對話，並期待在未來幾個季度推出該產品。我為我們在 2021 年取得的所有成就感到無比自豪。在展望 2022 年及以後，我對未來的增長機會和領域感到非常興奮。

I will now turn it over to Tony to discuss our financial results in more detail before we take your questions. Tony?

在我們回答您的問題之前，我現在將把它交給托尼來更詳細地討論我們的財務業績。托尼?

Thank you, Alan, and good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 6, Silvergate reported fourth quarter net income available to common shareholders of $18.4 million or $0.66 per diluted common share compared to $23.5 million or $0.88 per diluted share in the third quarter and up from $9.1 million or $0.47 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2020. The year-over-year growth was driven by both net interest income and noninterest income.

謝謝你，艾倫，大家早上好。從幻燈片 6 開始，Silvergate 報告第四季度普通股股東可獲得的淨收入為 1840 萬美元或稀釋後普通股每股 0.66 美元，而第三季度為 2350 萬美元或稀釋後每股收益 0.88 美元，高於第四季度的 910 萬美元或稀釋後每股收益 0.47 美元2020 年第四季度。同比增長是由淨利息收入和非利息收入共同推動的。

Net interest income on a taxable equivalent basis was up 3% compared to last quarter and up 80% compared to the same period last year. Net interest margin, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment, came in at 1.11%. We continue to invest in our strategic growth initiatives, including the development of stablecoin infrastructure, which resulted in an increase in noninterest expense during the quarter. These deliberate investments in employee salaries and benefits and professional services will support our future growth. In addition, our income tax rate this quarter was 9%. This quarter, the effective tax rate was lower due to higher tax benefits recognized on the exercise of stock options and tax-exempt income on municipal bonds.

按應稅等值計算的淨利息收入與上一季度相比增長了 3%，與去年同期相比增長了 80%。我稍後將更詳細地討論的淨息差為 1.11%。我們繼續投資於我們的戰略增長計劃，包括開發穩定幣基礎設施，這導致本季度的非利息支出增加。這些對員工工資和福利以及專業服務的有意投資將支持我們未來的發展。此外，我們本季度的所得稅率為 9%。本季度，由於行使股票期權和市政債券的免稅收入所確認的稅收優惠較高，有效稅率較低。

Next, on Slide 7. Deposits were $14.3 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase from $11.7 billion at September 30, 2021, driven by growth in deposits from digital currency exchanges, institutional investors and digital assets and other fintech-related customers. As Alan mentioned, average digital currency deposits were $13.3 billion in the quarter. As a reminder, our deposits from digital currency customers can fluctuate, as evidenced by the high and low daily total digital currency deposit levels of $16 billion and $10.2 billion, respectively, during the quarter. Noninterest-bearing deposits totaled $14.2 billion, representing more than 99% of total deposits at the end of the quarter as we continue to focus our deposit gathering strategy on digital currency customers. Similar to last quarter, our weighted average cost of deposits for the quarter was essentially 0.

接下來是幻燈片 7。截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，存款為 143 億美元，比 2021 年 9 月 30 日的 117 億美元有所增加，這得益於來自數字貨幣交易所、機構投資者和數字資產以及其他金融科技相關客戶的存款增長。正如艾倫所說，本季度平均數字貨幣存款為 133 億美元。提醒一下，我們來自數字貨幣客戶的存款可能會波動，本季度每日數字貨幣存款總額的高低分別為 160 億美元和 102 億美元。無息存款總額為 142 億美元，佔本季度末總存款的 99% 以上，因為我們繼續將存款收集策略重點放在數字貨幣客戶上。與上一季度類似，我們本季度的加權平均存款成本基本上為 0。

Turning to Slide 8. Net interest margin was 1.11% for the fourth quarter compared to 1.26% in the third quarter and 2.85% in the fourth quarter of last year. The decrease in NIM from the prior quarter was driven by a higher proportion of cash and securities relative to total assets as well as a lower yield on securities purchases. Yield on securities decreased quarter-over-quarter due to lower interest rates on new securities purchases throughout the third and fourth quarters.

轉到幻燈片 8。第四季度的淨息差為 1.11%，而去年第三季度為 1.26%，去年第四季度為 2.85%。淨息差較上一季度下降的原因是現金和證券相對於總資產的比例較高，以及證券購買的收益率較低。由於第三和第四季度購買新證券的利率較低，證券收益率環比下降。

On Slide 9. Noninterest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $11.1 million, a decrease of $3 million or 21% from the prior quarter and an increase of $6.2 million or 128% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Fourth quarter digital currency fee income of $9.3 million was the second highest in our history. The decline in noninterest income on a sequential basis reflects the impact of a $5.2 million gain on sale of securities in the third quarter. The year-over-year increase was a result of continued growth in fee income from digital currency customers.

在幻燈片 9 上。2021 年第四季度的非利息收入為 1110 萬美元，比上一季度減少 300 萬美元或 21%，比 2020 年第四季度增加 620 萬美元或 128%。第四季度數字貨幣費用收入930 萬美元是我們歷史上第二高的。非利息收入環比下降反映了第三季度證券銷售收益 520 萬美元的影響。同比增長是由於來自數字貨幣客戶的費用收入持續增長。

Slide 10 shows noninterest expense for the quarter of $25.7 million, up $3.3 million from the prior quarter and up $8 million compared to the same quarter of last year. As I mentioned earlier, salaries and employee benefits and professional services expenses increased year-over-year, driven by continued investments to drive our strategic growth initiatives, including stablecoin infrastructure.

幻燈片 10 顯示該季度的非利息支出為 2570 萬美元，比上一季度增加 330 萬美元，比去年同期增加 800 萬美元。正如我之前提到的，在持續投資推動我們的戰略增長計劃（包括穩定幣基礎設施）的推動下，工資、員工福利和專業服務費用同比增加。

Turning to Slide 11. Our securities portfolio totaled $8.6 billion, with a yield of 1.04% for the fourth quarter, up over $1 billion from a balance of $7.2 billion at the end of the third quarter and with a corresponding yield of 1.22%. Year-over-year, securities increased $7.7 billion. In the fourth quarter, we rebalanced the portfolio, in part, by selling approximately $1 billion of longer duration fixed rate securities and purchasing $2.7 billion of shorter duration fixed and variable rate securities. To that end, we will continue to take an active and measured approach to balance sheet management going forward with an objective of maintaining a high-quality securities portfolio.

轉到幻燈片 11。我們的證券投資組合總計 86 億美元，第四季度收益率為 1.04%，比第三季度末的 72 億美元餘額增加超過 10 億美元，相應收益率為 1.22%。與去年同期相比，證券增加了 77 億美元。在第四季度，我們通過出售約 10 億美元的較長期限固定利率證券和購買 27 億美元較短期限的固定和可變利率證券，部分重新平衡了投資組合。為此，我們將繼續採取積極和審慎的方法進行資產負債表管理，以保持高質量的證券投資組合為目標。

Our total loans at December 31, 2021, were $1.8 billion, up $152.3 million or 9.4% compared to the third quarter driven by an increase in end leverage and mortgage warehouse balances, partially offset by decreases in our commercial real estate and single-family real estate residential loan portfolios. To note, the latter 2 portfolios are paying down as we are not originating new loans in these categories. On a year-over-year basis, total loans were up $167.8 million or 10%.

截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，我們的總貸款為 18 億美元，與第三季度相比增加 1.523 億美元或 9.4%，主要是由於最終槓桿和抵押倉庫餘額的增加，部分被我們的商業房地產和單戶房地產的減少所抵消房地產住宅貸款組合。需要注意的是，後兩個投資組合正在償還，因為我們沒有在這些類別中發放新貸款。與去年同期相比，總貸款增加了 1.678 億美元或 10%。

Overall, the credit quality of our loan portfolio remains strong. Nonperforming assets totaled $4 million or 3 basis points relative to total assets at December 31, 2021, a decrease from 5 basis points relative to total assets at September 30 2021. Before moving on to our capital ratios, let me briefly discuss the details of the equity offering we completed in December.

總體而言，我們的貸款組合的信用質量依然強勁。截至 2021 年 12 月 31 日，不良資產總額為 400 萬美元，相對於總資產低 3 個基點，比 2021 年 9 月 30 日的總資產低 5 個基點。在繼續我們的資本比率之前，讓我簡要討論一下我們在 12 月完成了股票發行。

During the fourth quarter, we issued and sold nearly 4 million shares of Class A common stock. The gross proceeds of the offering were $552 million and net proceeds to the company were approximately $530.3 million after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. This marked our fourth equity raise of the year aligning with our goal of effectively capitalizing the business and continuing to execute on our growth initiatives. Going forward, we will continue to evaluate opportunities to raise capital efficiently in order to remain on the forefront of the digital currency industry's evolution.

在第四季度，我們發行並出售了近 400 萬股 A 類普通股。此次發行的總收益為 5.52 億美元，扣除承銷折扣和發行費用後，公司的淨收益約為 5.303 億美元。這標誌著我們今年的第四次股權融資符合我們有效利用業務並繼續執行我們的增長計劃的目標。展望未來，我們將繼續評估有效籌集資金的機會，以保持在數字貨幣行業發展的前沿。

Now looking at our capital ratios on Slide 12. Our Tier 1 leverage ratio was 11.07% at the company level and 10.49% at the bank level, with the bank ratio well in excess of the 5% minimum ratio to be considered well capitalized under federal banking regulations. Our total risk-based capital ratio of 56% reflects the fact that a large proportion of our deposits are held in cash and in high-grade and highly liquid securities. Our loan-to-deposit ratio decreased to 12.46% at the end of the quarter, driven by the growth in our deposits during the quarter. Overall, 2021 was an exciting year for Silvergate, and I look forward to continuing our growth in 2022 and beyond.

現在看看我們在幻燈片 12 上的資本比率。我們的一級槓桿比率在公司層面為 11.07%，在銀行層面為 10.49%，銀行比率遠高於 5% 的最低比率，在聯邦下被認為資本充足銀行監管。我們基於風險的總資本比率為 56%，這反映了我們的大部分存款以現金以及高等級和高流動性證券的形式持有。受本季度存款增長的推動，本季度末的貸存比下降至 12.46%。總體而言，2021 年對 Silvergate 來說是激動人心的一年，我期待在 2022 年及以後繼續我們的增長。

With that, I would like to ask the operator to open the line for any questions. Operator?

有了這個，我想請接線員打開線路以解決任何問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today is from Dave Rochester from Compass Point.

（操作員說明）今天我們的第一個問題來自 Compass Point 的 Dave Rochester。

Just a quick one on the limited purpose trust company that you guys mentioned. What are you expecting for the timing of finalizing that? And what kind of fee benefit are you expecting you can potentially capture from those deposits that you can hold on that?

只是對你們提到的有限目的信託公司的快速介紹。您對最終確定的時間有何期待？您希望從可以持有的存款中獲得什麼樣的費用收益？

Yes. Appreciate those questions, Dave. So we don't have good visibility on timing at this point. What I can tell you is that if you go all the way back to our prospectus when we went public, we had disclosed there that we were working with the New York DFS on a limited purpose trust company in support of our stablecoin thoughts.

是的。欣賞這些問題，戴夫。因此，我們目前對時間安排沒有很好的了解。我可以告訴你的是，如果你在我們上市時一直回到我們的招股說明書，我們已經披露我們正在與紐約 DFS 合作成立一家有限目的信託公司，以支持我們的穩定幣想法。

And with the onset of the pandemic a couple of years ago and then the ongoing evolution of the stablecoin initiative, we had put that on hold, that being the trust company application. But now, as we're seeing some clarity around how the President's Working Group report came out addressing stablecoins and bank's ability to participate in stablecoins as we've been saying all along, we felt that it was time to reengage with the New York DFS. And so we've done that. We've updated our application that went in, in the fourth quarter, and we're -- that's part of the strategy of thinking about how we will manage the reserves for the -- which would essentially be the incoming deposits that would be supporting the stablecoin.

隨著幾年前大流行的爆發以及穩定幣計劃的不斷發展，我們將其擱置，即信託公司的申請。但是現在，正如我們一直在說的那樣，我們看到總統工作組報告如何解決穩定幣和銀行參與穩定幣的能力有了一些清晰的認識，我們認為是時候重新與紐約 DFS 合作了.所以我們已經做到了。我們已經更新了我們在第四季度進入的應用程序，我們是——這是思考我們將如何管理儲備金的戰略的一部分——這基本上是支持的存款穩定幣。

So we're not yet ready to talk about fee income opportunities, what the timing is, et cetera. But suffice it to say that we're optimistic that we are going to be able to launch something here in 2022, and having the New York DFS trust charter is a key part of that strategy.

所以我們還沒有準備好談論收費收入機會，時間是什麼等等。但只要說我們樂觀地認為我們將能夠在 2022 年在這裡推出一些東西就足夠了，擁有紐約 DFS 信託章程是該戰略的關鍵部分。

Great. Appreciate the color there. Maybe just switching to the pipeline of new customers. It sounds like that's really strong, over 300. I was just curious, just looking back at prior decks and seeing that the pipeline has generally been over 200. You've added 120 accounts in 2Q, around 80 in 3Q, about the same number in 4Q. I was just curious, how long does it take to actually onboard these accounts? What's the conversion rate of that pipeline? And then maybe if you could just talk about customer attrition, if you're actually seeing any -- just to try to put it all together and understand the growth in customers per quarter, that would be great.

偉大的。欣賞那裡的顏色。也許只是切換到新客戶的管道。聽起來真的很強大，超過 300 個。我只是好奇，只是回顧之前的套牌，發現管道通常超過 200 個。您在 2Q 中添加了 120 個帳戶，在 3Q 中添加了大約 80 個，大約相同的數字在第四季度。我只是好奇，實際加入這些帳戶需要多長時間？該管道的轉化率是多少？然後也許如果你可以談論客戶流失，如果你真的看到任何 - 只是試圖把它們放在一起並了解每季度客戶的增長，那就太好了。

Sure. You know what, I'll go ahead and hand it over to Ben to address those questions. Appreciate it.

當然。你知道嗎，我會繼續把它交給 Ben 來解決這些問題。欣賞它。

Yes. And you're absolutely right. We saw incredible demand during the quarter, 4 new accounts, both from new customers and existing customers. The numbers that we report are from new customers. And yes, we're really seeing strong growth in the institutional investor category and really strong growth for the entire year. So when you look at the number as of the end of last year, we were just under 1,000 clients. And as of the end of the quarter, we were close to 1,400.

是的。你是絕對正確的。我們在本季度看到了令人難以置信的需求，新客戶和現有客戶都有 4 個新客戶。我們報告的數字來自新客戶。是的，我們確實看到機構投資者類別的強勁增長以及全年的強勁增長。因此，當您查看截至去年年底的數字時，我們只有不到 1,000 個客戶。截至本季度末，我們接近 1,400。

So we added over 400 customers during the quarter. I mean, sorry, during the year rather, and from a base of 1,000 up to 1,400, which we think really speaks to the benefit that our customers see from the SEN platform.

因此，我們在本季度增加了 400 多個客戶。我的意思是，抱歉，在這一年中，從 1,000 到 1,400 的基數，我們認為這確實說明了我們的客戶從 SEN 平台看到的好處。

The other thing I'll say on this topic is I was looking the other day -- we implemented Salesforce to help this process a few years back. It was over 2 years ago. And I was looking at the total number of leads that we had received through that channel, and it was over 10,000. And so what that shows you is just the incredible sort of demand for our products. And really that -- so that number of 300 that you referenced really does point to -- those are qualified leads. Those are folks that we believe will onboard and ultimately become customers of ours.

關於這個主題我要說的另一件事是我前幾天正在尋找——幾年前我們實施了 Salesforce 來幫助這個過程。那是2年前的事了。我正在查看我們通過該渠道收到的潛在客戶總數，超過 10,000 個。因此，這向您展示的是對我們產品的難以置信的需求。真的 - 所以你提到的 300 的數字確實指向 - 這些是合格的潛在客戶。我們相信這些人會加入並最終成為我們的客戶。

So generally, conversion rate's really high on that kind of pipeline that you guys talked about?

所以一般來說，你們談到的那種管道的轉化率真的很高嗎？

That's right. That's right.

那就對了。那就對了。

Yes. And in terms of how long it takes to onboard customers these days, has that time shrunk over time? Or -- and roughly, what is it today on average?

是的。就這些天來吸引客戶需要多長時間而言，這個時間是否隨著時間的推移而縮短了？或者 - 粗略地說，今天的平均水平是多少？

Yes. So we don't disclose the actual amount of time that it takes. And what I would tell you is we have our customers in 3 different categories, exchanges, institutional investors and other customers. And each category takes a different amount of time to onboard based on the due diligence that we have to do before we onboard a client. The institutional investor category is probably the fastest just given the nature of what they're doing and the fact that they tend to be investing their own capital.

是的。所以我們不會透露實際花費的時間。我要告訴你的是，我們有 3 個不同類別的客戶，交易所、機構投資者和其他客戶。根據我們在加入客戶之前必須做的盡職調查，每個類別需要不同的時間來加入。考慮到他們所做工作的性質以及他們傾向於投資自己的資本這一事實，機構投資者類別可能是最快的。

So we have -- I would say that we have optimized for that process. At the same time, we understand that this was a compliance first initiative back in 2014. And the last thing that we want to do is take shortcuts in terms of who's a customer of Silvergate and who's able to use our platform. So we're maintaining the integrity of that evaluation and at the same time, onboarding customers as fast as we can.

所以我們有 - 我會說我們已經針對該流程進行了優化。同時，我們知道這是 2014 年的合規第一倡議。我們最不想做的事情是在誰是 Silvergate 的客戶以及誰能夠使用我們的平台方面走捷徑。因此，我們正在保持評估的完整性，同時盡可能快地加入客戶。

The next question is from David Chiaverini from Wedbush.

下一個問題來自 Wedbush 的 David Chiaverini。

I have a follow-up on the stablecoin initiative. With it looking like DM may not happen, could you talk about your distribution strategy related to the stablecoin initiative if you were to go about it on your own?

我對穩定幣計劃進行了跟進。看起來 DM 可能不會發生，如果你要自己去做，你能談談你與穩定幣計劃相關的分配策略嗎？

Yes, David. So the way we're thinking about stablecoins hasn't changed. That being that we view the opportunity -- and again, just to step back and level set, the existing stablecoin market is their primarily in service of digital currency trading. And where we view the opportunity in the future is really around commerce and remittance. And in order to really get the distribution for that use case, we do anticipate that we will be working with many of our existing customers, but adding new customers who have already established retail distribution channels.

是的，大衛。所以我們對穩定幣的思考方式並沒有改變。那就是我們看到了機會——再一次，為了退後一步，現有的穩定幣市場主要是為數字貨幣交易服務的。我們認為未來的機會實際上是圍繞商業和匯款。為了真正獲得該用例的分銷，我們確實預計我們將與許多現有客戶合作，但會增加已經建立零售分銷渠道的新客戶。

And so without talking specifically about DM and just zooming out a little bit and thinking about the strategy, that really hasn't changed. We intend to be the issuer of a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. And we would expect that the distribution for that stablecoin would largely happen through our existing customers as well as new potential customers that have retail distribution.

因此，沒有專門談論 DM，只是縮小一點並考慮策略，這真的沒有改變。我們打算成為美元支持的穩定幣的發行人。我們預計該穩定幣的分銷將主要通過我們現有的客戶以及擁有零售分銷的新潛在客戶進行。

Great. And if -- and I've been getting this question from investors, if a Fed-sponsored CBDC were to come to market, to what extent would that lower the TAM for private stablecoins?

偉大的。如果 - 我一直從投資者那裡得到這個問題，如果美聯儲贊助的 CBDC 上市，這會在多大程度上降低私人穩定幣的 TAM？

Yes. So certainly, if a U.S. dollar -- if a U.S. CBDC is launched and it is a direct-to-consumer, direct-to-retail CBDC, then that would essentially be competing with any other existing or proposed stablecoin out there. I guess the question that we ask ourselves, and we've been thinking about this for a long time, as you know, is it likely that the U.S. is going to issue a stablecoin directly to retail? Or is it more likely that we're not going to see a disruption of the 2-tier banking system, and that rather anything that the U.S. might contemplate would potentially be issued by the community banking ecosystem? In which case, I don't think there's anybody better positioned than Silvergate to participate in that.

是的。因此，可以肯定的是，如果美元——如果推出美國 CBDC 並且它是直接面向消費者、直接面向零售的 CBDC，那麼它本質上將與任何其他現有或提議的穩定幣競爭。我想我們問自己的問題，並且我們已經思考了很長時間，如您所知，美國是否有可能直接發行穩定幣用於零售？還是更有可能我們不會看到二級銀行系統的中斷，而是美國可能考慮的任何東西都可能由社區銀行生態系統發行？在這種情況下，我認為沒有比 Silvergate 更適合參與其中的人了。

So we don't view it -- we're not concerned about it at all. We're sitting here ready to launch something in 2022, and the Fed is still talking about what it might look like, and even with some of Jerome Powell's recent comments about the proposed report that's going to come out in the coming weeks as he's recently said, he's also indicated that, that report is not going to be -- it's not going to be their views on how to do this, but rather it's going to be posing questions and it's going to be open for comments. So not dissimilar to the FedNow project that has been ongoing for years. I think any potential U.S. CBDC is likely years away.

所以我們不看它——我們根本不關心它。我們坐在這裡準備在 2022 年推出一些東西，美聯儲仍在談論它可能會是什麼樣子，即使杰羅姆·鮑威爾最近對即將在未來幾週內發布的擬議報告發表了一些評論，就像他最近一樣說，他還表示，該報告不會 - 這不會是他們對如何做到這一點的看法，而是會提出問題並公開徵求意見。所以與多年來一直在進行的 FedNow 項目沒有什麼不同。我認為任何潛在的美國 CBDC 都可能需要數年時間。

The next question comes from Michael Perito from KBW.

下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Michael Perito。

Alan, Ben, Tony. Just to start, I'm curious if you guys would be willing to provide some broad commentary around -- some further commentary rather around your growth outlook for your business in 2022. I mean, it seems like there's a few dynamics that people are kind of wrestling with, right, higher interest rates, falling crypto values on the underlying crypto assets that is. But it seems like you're exiting the year with pretty strong momentum, a higher pipeline. So realizing it's challenging to know what the crypto market will do in 2022, curious if you guys could provide just a little bit more context around how you view the Silvergate growth opportunity in 2022, given what you know today?

艾倫、本、托尼。剛開始，我很好奇你們是否願意提供一些廣泛的評論——一些進一步的評論，而不是圍繞你們在 2022 年的業務增長前景。我的意思是，似乎有一些動態人們是善良的與正確的更高利率、底層加密資產的加密價值下降作鬥爭。但看起來你正在以相當強勁的勢頭和更高的管道退出這一年。因此，意識到了解 2022 年加密市場將如何發展具有挑戰性，想知道你們是否可以提供更多關於您如何看待 2022 年 Silvergate 增長機會的背景信息？

Sure. Let me start, and then I'll kick it over to Ben to see if he has any further color that he would like to share. But I think your observations, Mike, are spot on in that we ended 2021 probably with a stronger outlook across the different products that we offer, a stronger outlook than we've ended any prior year. If you think about our pipeline for users of the SEN, as Ben was just talking about a few minutes ago. If you think about the growth of SEN Leverage, and that product just starting to hit its stride. If you think about the opportunity that we see for stablecoin.

當然。讓我開始吧，然後我會把它交給 Ben，看看他是否還有其他想要分享的顏色。但我認為邁克，你的觀察是正確的，因為我們在 2021 年結束時可能對我們提供的不同產品的前景更加樂觀，比我們前一年結束時的前景更加強勁。如果您考慮一下我們為 SEN 用戶提供的管道，正如 Ben 幾分鐘前所說的那樣。如果您考慮 SEN Leverage 的增長，並且該產品剛剛開始大踏步前進。如果您考慮一下我們看到的穩定幣的機會。

So we could not be more bullish on what our opportunities are for the future. But as I've also consistently said, this is not an initiative that is going to be just straight up and to the right. There -- we've experienced volatility. We've been doing this, as you know, for 8 years. We've -- some people are comparing the end of 2021 to the end of 2017. I don't really see that at all because of the fact that we've ended on such a strong note. And it's like you have these point-in-time measurements at the end of quarters, but if you look at the ongoing stream of the opportunity and the pipeline, we just -- we're really excited. Ben, do you have any additional color that you wanted to add on any of those topics?

因此，我們不能更加看好我們未來的機會。但正如我一直所說的那樣，這不是一個直截了當的倡議。那裡 - 我們經歷了波動。如您所知，我們已經這樣做了 8 年。我們已經 - 有些人將 2021 年底與 2017 年底進行了比較。我完全沒有看到這一點，因為我們已經以如此強烈的方式結束了這一事實。就像您在季度末進行這些時間點測量一樣，但是如果您查看正在進行的機會流和管道，我們只是 - 我們真的很興奮。 Ben，你有什麼想為這些主題添加的額外顏色嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Alan. So in terms of the market, I mean, when you look at the underlying in the fourth quarter, you really had sort of the tale of 2 quarters. in the sense that October and November were really white hot in the crypto markets, and then December really fell off. At the end of November, just -- it's only 1 measure, and we have a much more diverse business than this. But if you just look at the price of Bitcoin as of the end of November, it was about $67,000. And we finished the year -- Bitcoin finished the year at $47,000. So that's a pretty significant drawdown in the span of 1 month.

是的。謝謝，艾倫。因此，就市場而言，我的意思是，當您查看第四季度的底層證券時，您確實有過兩個季度的故事。從某種意義上說，10 月和 11 月在加密市場真的很白熱化，然後 12 月真的下降了。在 11 月底，這只是一項措施，我們的業務比這要多樣化得多。但如果你只看 11 月底比特幣的價格，它大約是 67,000 美元。我們結束了這一年——比特幣以 47,000 美元的價格結束了這一年。因此，在 1 個月的時間裡，這是一個相當大的回撤。

And so when we look at sort of the average metrics for the quarter with deposits at 14 -- at average deposits at $13.2 billion compared to even the second quarter, which was average deposits were $9.9 billion in a quarter that had incredible SEN volume, that tells us that while there is volatility in the underlying, our platform is continuing to grow. The deposits on platform are continuing to grow. The SEN usage is up. The fee income was up.

因此，當我們查看本季度的平均指標時，存款為 14 - 平均存款為 132 億美元，甚至與第二季度相比，第二季度的平均存款為 99 億美元，具有令人難以置信的 SEN 數量，即告訴我們，雖然底層證券存在波動，但我們的平台仍在繼續增長。平台存款持續增長。 SEN 使用率上升。手續費收入增加了。

So when we really go back to our key performance indicators, and we look at sort of what happened in the fourth quarter, even though there was volatility in the underlying, to Alan's point, we couldn't have finished in sort of a better place as we think about 2022 and beyond.

因此，當我們真正回到我們的關鍵績效指標時，我們會看看第四季度發生的事情，即使基礎資產存在波動，在艾倫看來，我們的表現再好不過了當我們想到 2022 年及以後。

And then just secondly, I know you guys don't provide earnings guidance, particularly around growth, but it feels like the conviction around the rate of expense and investment, but also the positioning of the balance sheet for higher short-term rates are 2 things that are a bit more, I guess, for lack of a better way of putting it, in your control. And it sounds like in the quarter, you guys took some actions, maybe even enhanced your positioning for higher rates further. And I'd be curious if (inaudible) just provide some general thoughts on the expense growth and the potential benefit to margin from higher rates in 2022 as we move forward.

其次，我知道你們不提供收益指導，特別是關於增長的，但感覺就像是對費用和投資率的信念，而且資產負債表對更高短期利率的定位是2我想，由於缺乏更好的方式將其置於您的控制之下，所以事情要多一些。聽起來，在本季度，你們採取了一些行動，甚至可能進一步加強了對更高利率的定位。我很好奇（聽不清）是否只是提供一些關於費用增長的一般想法以及隨著我們前進的 2022 年更高的利率對利潤率的潛在好處。

Yes, Mike. I'll go ahead and ask Tony to jump in here in just a second. But just to give him a second to get off mute. We are absolutely continuing to invest in the infrastructure to support the launch of a stablecoin in 2022. And as you pointed out and as we shared in our press release and in our comments, we actually also did sell some longer-duration securities during the quarter to better -- to what we believe is a better positioning for what is likely a rising rate environment here in 2022. But I'll turn it over to Tony now.

是的，邁克。我會繼續請託尼在幾秒鐘內跳到這裡。但只是為了給他一秒鐘的時間讓他靜音。我們絕對會繼續投資基礎設施，以支持在 2022 年推出穩定幣。正如你所指出的，正如我們在新聞稿和評論中所分享的那樣，我們實際上也在本季度出售了一些長期證券更好——我們認為，對於 2022 年可能出現的利率上升環境來說，這是一個更好的定位。但我現在把它交給托尼。

Yes. So most definitely, in the securities portfolio, we -- the securities that we sold, as I indicated in my prepared remarks, were primarily longer duration fixed rate assets in the primarily mortgage-backed securities. And so in that category, you can just see from the press release, based on the rate decrease in that category, that we shifted to shorter duration to be positioned for moving rates. At the same time, we continue to add to the portfolio. There was an increase in the tax exempt muni bond portfolio. So we feel we're in a really good place entering 2022 from this perspective, particularly when you look at the cash balance in combination with the securities portfolio.

是的。因此，最肯定的是，在證券投資組合中，我們出售的證券，正如我在準備好的評論中所指出的那樣，主要是抵押貸款支持證券中的長期固定利率資產。因此，在該類別中，您可以從新聞稿中看到，基於該類別的利率下降，我們轉向更短的持續時間以定位移動利率。同時，我們繼續增加投資組合。免稅市政債券投資組合有所增加。因此，從這個角度來看，我們認為我們在進入 2022 年時處於一個非常好的位置，尤其是當您將現金餘額與證券投資組合結合起來查看時。

And then from an expense perspective, there's obviously a lag effect on the impact of the hiring that we did during the third and fourth quarters. So just from a mathematical perspective, there'll be some continued impact on the expense line. But as -- again, as we said in our -- as Alan just mentioned, we -- not only our -- continue to invest in our strategic growth initiatives, but we've also added to our foundational layer to support the scale of our operations. So those would be my comments on both the balance sheet positioning and expenses.

然後從費用的角度來看，我們在第三和第四季度所做的招聘的影響顯然存在滯後效應。因此，僅從數學角度來看，費用線將受到一些持續影響。但是正如 - 再次，正如我們在我們的 - 正如 Alan 剛剛提到的那樣，我們 - 不僅是我們 - 繼續投資於我們的戰略增長計劃，而且我們還增加了我們的基礎層以支持規模我們的業務。因此，這些將是我對資產負債表定位和費用的評論。

The next question comes from Steven Alexopoulos from JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Steven Alexopoulos。

I wanted to start -- Alan, I wanted to follow up first on the digital currency customers. So I don't know if you saw it or not, but Signature reported this morning. And their new client adds, if you look at them, they increased fairly sharply over the past few quarters, whereas for you guys, the trend was flat to sort of down over the past few quarters. They've reported 139 new client adds and you guys are 76. What do you see -- or why are you not seeing a similar increase that they're seeing. I would have expected at least to keep pace with new client adds as what they reported this morning.

我想開始——艾倫，我想先跟進數字貨幣客戶。所以我不知道你有沒有看到，但是簽名今天早上報導了。他們的新客戶補充說，如果你看看他們，他們在過去幾個季度中大幅增加，而對你們來說，過去幾個季度的趨勢是持平到有點下降。他們報告了 139 名新客戶增加，而你們是 76 歲。你看到了什麼 - 或者為什麼你沒有看到他們看到的類似增長。我本來希望至少能跟上他們今天早上報導的新客戶添加的步伐。

Yes. It's -- we don't -- obviously, we don't have any visibility into what their numbers are, who they're adding, what types of customers, et cetera. All I can tell you is that we -- as Ben was sharing in his comments a few minutes ago, our pipeline is as strong as ever and we're adding customers at a really healthy clip.

是的。這是 - 我們沒有 - 顯然，我們無法了解他們的數字是什麼，他們正在添加誰，什麼類型的客戶等等。我只能告訴你的是，正如 Ben 在幾分鐘前在他的評論中分享的那樣，我們的管道一如既往地強大，我們正在以非常健康的方式增加客戶。

And so the other thing, and I don't think Ben touched on this, he commented on the fact that we don't really share like how long it takes to onboard a customer, et cetera. But it also depends on the type of customers that we're adding. It's very easy to add a non-SEN user, somebody that would be in the other bucket, for instance. It's a little bit -- takes a little bit longer to add an institutional investor, and it takes quite a bit longer to add an exchange. And so it's possibly mix, but I'll ask Ben to comment if he has any additional color. But I did see their earnings report this morning. And it certainly -- I have no concerns whatsoever about our business and the growth that we're seeing and the demand that we're seeing for the Silvergate Exchange network. Ben, you want to add any color?

還有另一件事，我認為 Ben 沒有提到這一點，他評論說我們並沒有真正分享加入客戶需要多長時間等事實。但這也取決於我們添加的客戶類型。添加非 SEN 用戶非常容易，例如，將在另一個存儲桶中的某個人。有點——添加機構投資者需要更長的時間，添加交易所需要更長的時間。所以它可能是混合的，但如果他有任何額外的顏色，我會請 Ben 發表評論。但我今天早上確實看到了他們的收益報告。當然——我對我們的業務和我們看到的增長以及我們看到的 Silvergate Exchange 網絡的需求沒有任何擔憂。 Ben，你想加點顏色嗎？

Yes. So I think that's exactly right. When we have this incredible inbound that I was talking about. And one of the questions we ask ourselves is, what is this customer going to bring to the network? What are the products that they're going to use at Silvergate because it actually is possible especially in this industry, that you add customers that aren't accretive to the platform and aren't accretive to the products that you're offering and whatnot. And so it's almost -- I don't want to say it's profitability per customer because it's deeper than that, but we're very strategic in terms of who we look at to add the risk that they may or may not bring on the platform and ultimately how they're going to use our services. So it is -- there is more to it than just adding customers for the sake of adding customers.

是的。所以我認為這是完全正確的。當我們有我所說的令人難以置信的入站時。我們問自己的一個問題是，這個客戶將給網絡帶來什麼？他們將在 Silvergate 使用哪些產品，因為實際上有可能，尤其是在這個行業中，您添加的客戶不會增加平台，也不會增加您提供的產品等等.所以它幾乎 - 我不想說它是每個客戶的盈利能力，因為它比這更深，但我們在關注誰來增加他們可能會或可能不會在平台上帶來的風險方面非常具有戰略意義以及最終他們將如何使用我們的服務。因此，它不僅僅是為了增加客戶而增加客戶。

Then if I could follow up. So you had indicated October, November were white hot and then December activity trailed off quite a bit. In terms -- I know David asked about converting the pipeline. But what we're all wondering is, as the price of crypto has come down quite a bit and might struggle as rates go up, is that impacting institutions you're looking at and their desire, willingness to adopt crypto, right, and go on the platform.

那如果我能跟進的話。因此，您曾表示 10 月、11 月是白熱化的，然後 12 月的活動逐漸減少。就術語而言——我知道大衛問過關於轉換管道的問題。但我們都想知道的是，由於加密貨幣的價格已經下降了很多，並且隨著利率的上漲可能會遇到困難，這會影響你正在關注的機構以及他們的願望、採用加密貨幣的意願，對，然後去在平台上。

Yes. Appreciate the question. And the quick answer is no, not at all. I mean, when we talk about institutional investors, these are truly the sophisticated firms that are out there that are raising capital from LPs and have developed a thesis as it relates to crypto. And so I think everyone understands that there's going to be volatility in the underlying, but when you just look at the amount of capital and investment that's going into the space, we couldn't be more excited about the opportunities that we're seeing and what the pipeline looks like.

是的。欣賞這個問題。快速的回答是否定的，一點也不。我的意思是，當我們談論機構投資者時，這些確實是成熟的公司，它們從 LP 那裡籌集資金，並製定了與加密相關的論文。因此，我認為每個人都明白底層證券將會出現波動，但是當你只看進入該領域的資本和投資數量時，我們對我們所看到的機會感到無比興奮和管道是什麼樣子的。

So really, that difference between October, November and December, December trading volumes were down, the price was down, the basis trade went away. So there were a number of headwinds in December. But in terms of the long-term thesis for crypto and the long-term growth opportunity for Silvergate, we couldn't be more excited about what that looks like.

真的，10 月、11 月和 12 月之間的差異，12 月的交易量下降了，價格下降了，基差交易消失了。因此，12 月份出現了許多不利因素。但就加密貨幣的長期論點和 Silvergate 的長期增長機會而言，我們對它的樣子感到非常興奮。

The next question is from Joseph Vafi from Canaccord.

下一個問題來自 Canaccord 的 Joseph Vafi。

Just thought we'd drill down a little on the SEN Leverage. It looked like that loan book grew pretty nicely sequentially. I was just wondering if you could provide some more color there relative to -- was that a function of you feeling better on the risk management side versus what might be the demand outlook there? And then I have a quick follow-up.

只是想我們會深入了解 SEN 槓桿。看起來那本貸款簿按順序增長得很好。我只是想知道你是否可以提供更多的顏色，相對於 - 這是你在風險管理方面感覺更好的功能，而不是那裡的需求前景？然後我有一個快速跟進。

Yes, Joe, really appreciate that question. It is absolutely not any change in our kind of like risk outlook, if you will, or feeling more comfortable. We are just as comfortable today as we've been all year with our risk management on the SEN Leverage book. And it really is more the -- as you asked in the question, it's really more the ongoing and increasing demand from our customers for better capital efficiency, for access to U.S. dollars by borrowing against their Bitcoin.

是的，喬，非常感謝這個問題。如果您願意，或者感覺更舒服，這絕對不會改變我們類似的風險前景。今天，我們對 SEN Leverage 書中的風險管理感到滿意，就像我們一整年一樣。它確實更多——正如您在問題中所問的那樣，我們的客戶對提高資本效率的持續和不斷增長的需求，以及通過借入比特幣來獲取美元的需求確實更多。

And so this is one of the things that we were really excited about for 2022, is that even though, as you pointed out, we had very strong sequential growth we have quite a healthy pipeline on the SEN Leverage book as well. We haven't been disclosing pipeline on SEN leverage because it's a little -- it would just be difficult because some of our borrowers are smaller and they might only borrow $5 million. And then on the other side, you might see a mining company such as was announced at the beginning of the fourth quarter last year when we made a $100 million loan to a mining company. And so the bottom line is we think this is going to continue to grow in 2022. And it's one of the reasons we've been confident to continue to add capital to support the growth not only on the deposit side and the number of customers, but also on the SEN Leverage book.

因此，這是我們對 2022 年真正感到興奮的事情之一，儘管正如您所指出的，我們有非常強勁的連續增長，但我們在 SEN Leverage 書中也有相當健康的管道。我們沒有披露 SEN 槓桿的管道，因為它有點——這會很困難，因為我們的一些借款人規模較小，他們可能只借到 500 萬美元。然後在另一方面，您可能會看到一家礦業公司，例如去年第四季度初我們向一家礦業公司提供 1 億美元貸款時宣布的那樣。所以底線是我們認為這將在 2022 年繼續增長。這也是我們有信心繼續增加資本以支持增長的原因之一，不僅是在存款方面和客戶數量，也包括在 SEN Leverage book 上。

Okay. That's helpful. Thanks, Alan. And then just as a follow-up, I was just wondering if we could get kind of an update. I know you signed a couple of pretty large kind of partnership or strategic deals with the Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase and kind of custody side. I was wondering, what's the update there? How are those relationships evolving? And how are they contributing to the business?

好的。這很有幫助。謝謝，艾倫。然後作為後續行動，我只是想知道我們是否可以得到某種更新。我知道你與 Fidelity Digital Assets 和 Coinbase 以及託管方簽署了一些相當大的合作夥伴關係或戰略交易。我想知道，那裡的更新是什麼？這些關係如何發展？他們如何為業務做出貢獻？

Yes. I appreciate that question as well because we are seeing the network effect on the custodial side working just as we had hoped. And I -- we are fully engaged with all of our partners, all of our SEN Leverage partners. And we don't have a favorite, if you will. It really is all about customer choice, allowing our customers to choose, and in many cases, they've already made the choice that they're comfortable holding their Bitcoin in custody at Coinbase or at Fidelity or at Anchorage or a Bitstamp. And so we've got integrations with all of those folks. And so when our -- when a prospect comes to us and wants to borrow, the one thing they don't have to do is move their bitcoin because they've likely already got it with one of those partners. And so we aren't disclosing how much we have with each one, but rest assured that we have outstanding loans that are collateralized by Bitcoin that is held at each one of those custodians.

是的。我也很欣賞這個問題，因為我們看到保管方的網絡效應正如我們所希望的那樣工作。而我——我們與我們所有的合作夥伴，我們所有的 SEN Leverage 合作夥伴都充分合作。如果你願意，我們沒有最喜歡的。這真的是關於客戶的選擇，允許我們的客戶進行選擇，在許多情況下，他們已經做出選擇，他們願意將比特幣存放在 Coinbase 或 Fidelity 或 Anchorage 或 Bitstamp。所以我們已經與所有這些人進行了整合。因此，當我們的潛在客戶來找我們並想藉錢時，他們不必做的一件事就是移動他們的比特幣，因為他們可能已經從其中一個合作夥伴那裡得到了它。因此，我們沒有透露我們每筆有多少，但請放心，我們有未償還的貸款，這些貸款由每個託管人持有的比特幣抵押。

The next question is from Will Nance from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的 Will Nance。

Most of my questions, I think, have been asked and answered at this point. But I wanted to go ahead and drill in on the securities portfolio, again, in response to an earlier question. I mean, I think the biggest delta versus expectation this quarter came from the lower securities yield and the repositioning of the book that you guys have done. I was hoping to understand a little bit better about the kind of relative trade-off between current income and future income. And so I think you've talked about roughly a 50-50 mix of kind of fixed and floating rate securities in that book. Correct me if I'm wrong there. But maybe just post the repositioning, could you give us an update on how much of that book is composed of floating rate securities and short-duration T builds? Just to give us a sense for how much the yield might benefit as interest rates go up.

我認為，我的大部分問題都在這一點上被問及並得到了回答。但我想繼續深入研究證券投資組合，再次回答之前的問題。我的意思是，我認為本季度最大的增量與預期來自較低的證券收益率和你們所做的書籍的重新定位。我希望能更好地了解當前收入和未來收入之間的相對權衡。所以我認為你在那本書中談到了大約 50-50 種固定和浮動利率證券的組合。如果我錯了，請糾正我。但也許只是發布重新定位，你能告訴我們這本書有多少是由浮動利率證券和短期 T 構建組成的嗎？只是為了讓我們了解隨著利率上升，收益率可能會受益多少。

Yes. Well, I'm going to ask Tony to comment on your question in a little bit more detail, but one of the things that I just wanted to double click on. When Tony was addressing this question a few minutes ago, he talked about the fact that most of the securities that we sold were mortgage-backed securities. But yet, we are still adding to the muni portfolio. And so one of the things that I just wanted to kind of highlight is the fact that it's not so much that we've changed our strategy around fixed versus floating. But in the context of the fixed portfolio, we are thinking about how the different investment portfolio sectors, how they react to rising rates and what the potential mark-to-markets on those are. And so we're focused on earnings. We're also focused on capital preservation and thinking about the ultimate mark on the portfolio if rates are to rise rapidly. And so with that, though, let me turn it over to Tony to ask him to comment a little bit more on the details of your question.

是的。好吧，我將請託尼更詳細地評論您的問題，但這是我只想雙擊的事情之一。當托尼幾分鐘前回答這個問題時，他談到了我們出售的大多數證券都是抵押貸款支持證券的事實。但是，我們仍在增加市政投資組合。因此，我只想強調的一件事是，我們並沒有改變圍繞固定與浮動的策略。但是在固定投資組合的背景下，我們正在考慮不同的投資組合領域，它們對利率上升的反應以及這些領域的潛在盯市。所以我們專注於收益。如果利率要迅速上升，我們還專注於資本保全並考慮投資組合的最終目標。因此，儘管如此，讓我把它交給托尼，請他對你問題的細節發表更多評論。

Yes, Alan. Just -- yes, and just to, I guess, add to my previous comment, as much as I indicated that we had sold some of the securities and some of the mortgage-backed securities, we actually added more mortgage-backed securities than we sold. So the primary buckets of where we did add investment in the quarter. The largest increase was in mortgage-backed securities, followed by the municipal bonds. So had it not been for the $1.1 billion of sales, our securities book would have approached $10 billion.

是的，艾倫。只是 - 是的，我想，只是為了補充我之前的評論，儘管我表示我們已經出售了一些證券和一些抵押貸款支持證券，但我們實際上添加的抵押貸款支持證券比我們更多賣。因此，我們在本季度確實增加了投資的主要部分。增幅最大的是抵押貸款支持證券，其次是市政債券。因此，如果不是 11 億美元的銷售額，我們的證券賬簿將接近 100 億美元。

So as Alan said, we look at all the subsectors, but our philosophy really hasn't changed. We remain flexible and we think we're in a good position heading into Q1. Clearly, as I indicated before, in the taxable securities book, the duration has been reduced overall. And so last quarter, I did comment on a 50-50 mix between floating and fixed, and it's definitely skewed to more adjustable rate this quarter. But I won't quote a number because that's continually changing, and it could continue to change depending on what we do. So hopefully, that provides additional color.

正如艾倫所說，我們關注所有子行業，但我們的理念確實沒有改變。我們保持靈活性，我們認為我們在進入第一季度處於有利地位。顯然，正如我之前指出的，在應稅證券賬簿中，持續時間總體上已縮短。所以上個季度，我確實評論了浮動和固定之間的 50-50 組合，而且本季度肯定會傾向於更可調的比率。但我不會引用一個數字，因為它在不斷變化，並且可能會繼續變化，具體取決於我們所做的事情。所以希望，這提供了額外的顏色。

Yes. No, that's super helpful. I appreciate it. And then I guess the second one, I guess, maybe for Ben, I think if I think back a couple of quarters ago, when crypto prices were down pretty significantly, I think you guys actually saw really robust deposit growth. And I think you gave some commentary around clients being a little bit more inefficient with how much balances they keep on the SEN. Just wondering, as we're towards the end of the quarter and into the beginning of the first quarter, have you guys seen similar types of trends of people kind of being in more of like a risk-off mode and holding more cash in the SEN? And can we think about that as being a potential offset if we do see kind of lower crypto trading activity drive, kind of lower SEN transfers next quarter?

是的。不，這非常有幫助。我很感激。然後我猜第二個，我猜，也許是 Ben，我想如果我回想幾個季度前，當加密貨幣價格大幅下跌時，我認為你們實際上看到了非常強勁的存款增長。而且我認為您對客戶在 SEN 上保留多少餘額的效率有點低下發表了一些評論。只是想知道，當我們接近本季度末和第一季度初時，你們有沒有看到類似的趨勢，人們更像是一種風險規避模式並持有更多現金森？如果我們確實看到較低的加密交易活動驅動，下個季度較低的 SEN 轉移，我們是否可以將其視為潛在的抵消？

Yes. So without providing any guidance in terms of what we think deposits are going to do. We know that there's a couple of areas of deposit growth for us. I mean, first of all, it's just the new customers. This year, we added 400 customers. We've got a pipeline of 300 customers. And so we know that as we continue to add customers, deposits are going to grow. But then we do, as the SEN grows and as the network effect gets bigger, there's even more venues for our customers to be able to trade with, if you will. And so we are seeing them keep more deposits with us, more capital with us on a per customer basis, really kind of across the board. And we believe that that's because they don't want to they don't want to miss out on trading opportunities. Like we've talked about in the past, some of our customers, they don't really care if the underlying is going up or going down, they're really looking for volume and volatility.

是的。因此，在我們認為存款將做什麼方面沒有提供任何指導。我們知道我們有幾個存款增長領域。我的意思是，首先，這只是新客戶。今年，我們增加了 400 名客戶。我們有 300 名客戶。所以我們知道，隨著我們不斷增加客戶，存款將會增長。但是我們確實做到了，隨著 SEN 的增長和網絡效應的擴大，如果您願意，我們的客戶可以使用更多的場所進行交易。因此，我們看到他們在我們身上保留了更多的存款，在每個客戶的基礎上為我們保留了更多的資金，實際上是全面的。我們認為這是因為他們不想錯過交易機會。就像我們過去談到的那樣，我們的一些客戶並不真正關心底層證券是上漲還是下跌，他們真的在尋找交易量和波動性。

And so there's -- and that's 1 segment. We've got the retail segment. We've got the stablecoin segment. And so we really do have a diverse group of customers that are using the SEN. And as we've talked about, I mean, we think that deposits are going to continue to grow. It's not going to be linear as we've said all along, but we do believe that as we add customers and whatnot, that deposits on platform will continue to grow despite market conditions.

所以有 - 這是1個部分。我們有零售部門。我們有穩定幣部分。因此，我們確實有一群不同的客戶在使用 SEN。正如我們所說，我的意思是，我們認為存款將繼續增長。它不會像我們一直所說的那樣是線性的，但我們確實相信，隨著我們增加客戶等等，儘管市場狀況不佳，平台上的存款仍將繼續增長。

The next question is from Steve Moss from B. Riley Securities.

下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Steve Moss。

Maybe just start following up on the SEN network pipeline. Kind of curious here, just if you could give color around maybe the mix and the size of customers that you guys see in the 300-plus number?

也許只是開始跟進 SEN 網絡管道。有點好奇，如果你能給出顏色，也許你們在 300 多個數字中看到的客戶的組合和規模？

Yes. Steve, this is Alan. I'll jump back in. We don't typically disclose the types of customers and the size that are in the pipeline. But I can just tell you generally, there -- just to kind of go back to a comment that Ben made earlier, the largest area of growth and demand that we've seen here of late is in the institutional investor side. And so -- and just if you think about the [LOBS] large numbers and the fact that there are likely not as many exchanges out there, we pretty much have penetrated the cryptocurrency exchange market, not to say that we don't -- we won't add any, but it's probably more likely that we would see continued growth in the institutional investor bucket and then in the other bucket as well.

是的。史蒂夫，這是艾倫。我會跳回去。我們通常不會透露客戶的類型和正在籌備中的規模。但我可以籠統地告訴你，回到 Ben 早些時候發表的評論，我們最近在這裡看到的最大的增長和需求領域是機構投資者方面。所以——如果你考慮一下 [LOBS] 的大量數字以及那裡可能沒有那麼多交易所的事實，我們幾乎已經滲透了加密貨幣交易市場，並不是說我們沒有——我們不會添加任何內容，但我們更有可能看到機構投資者類別的持續增長，然後在另一個類別中也是如此。

Okay. And then just in terms of maybe tying out the investment securities book a little further, kind of curious if you could give any maybe end-of-period -- color around end-of-period yields for the taxable securities book?

好的。然後就可能進一步捆綁投資證券賬簿而言，有點好奇您是否可以給出任何可能的期末 - 應稅證券賬簿的期末收益率周圍的顏色？

Yes. I don't have that level of detail. And Tony, do you want to -- do you have any comment on that? Or should we just do that in a follow-up?

是的。我沒有那種詳細程度。托尼，你想 - 你對此有何評論？還是我們應該在後續行動中這樣做？

I think we do that in a follow-up.

我認為我們會在後續行動中這樣做。

Our final question today is from George Sutton from Craig-Hallum.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 George Sutton。

I'll finish up with a big picture question. Obviously, you've had a very conservatively managed balance sheet. You've raised a lot of capital. I'm just curious what the governors to putting that capital to work relatively quickly are? And what -- any accelerants that you see potentially out there that could accelerate the use of that capital?

我將以一個大問題結束。顯然，您的資產負債表管理非常保守。你籌集了很多資金。我只是好奇州長們將這些資金投入相對較快的是什麼？還有什麼——你看到的任何潛在的加速劑可以加速資本的使用？

Yes, George. I appreciate the question. We haven't had much of a chance to talk about the capital that we raised in the fourth quarter, which as we've touched on briefly, it was really both in support of our growth throughout the year as well as thinking ahead to 2022. And as we've talked about stablecoin, as we've talked about, SEN Leverage, and as Ben just touched on, we absolutely believe that our deposits are going to continue to grow.

是的，喬治。我很欣賞這個問題。我們沒有太多機會談論我們在第四季度籌集的資金，正如我們簡要談到的那樣，這實際上既是為了支持我們全年的增長，也是為了展望 2022 年. 正如我們談到穩定幣、SEN 槓桿以及 Ben 剛剛談到的那樣，我們絕對相信我們的存款將繼續增長。

We've just tried to be prudent capital managers, thinking about the fact that we want to have enough dry powder to take advantage of growth opportunities, whether that comes through acquisition, whether that comes through organic growth, the launch of the stablecoin initiative that we're hoping to be able to bring to market in 2022, thinking about managing those reserves because deposits would likely increase as a result of that initiative.

我們只是試圖成為謹慎的資本管理者，考慮到我們希望有足夠的干粉來利用增長機會，無論是通過收購，還是通過有機增長，推出穩定幣計劃我們希望能夠在 2022 年推向市場，考慮管理這些儲備，因為該舉措可能會增加存款。

So we don't have any further guidance that we can give at this point other than to say that we believe that we will be able to effectively deploy that capital, and where we feel that we're in very good -- in a very good spot here with ending the year with such strong capital ratios as we contemplate the growth initiatives for 2022.

因此，我們目前無法提供任何進一步的指導，只能說我們相信我們將能夠有效地部署這筆資金，並且我們認為我們處於非常好的位置 - 在非常在我們考慮 2022 年的增長計劃時，以如此強勁的資本比率結束這一年是個好地方。

Yes. Thank you very much. I was just realizing you said this was going to be the last question. So anyway, I appreciate everybody's questions. Appreciate your support throughout the year. We're incredibly proud of our 2021 results, which are a testament to the continued hard work of the entire Silvergate team. We've built a diverse earnings stream with multiple growth levers. And looking ahead to 2022 and beyond, we continue to see tremendous opportunity to provide innovative solutions for our digital currency customers. We're looking forward to sharing additional updates on our strategic growth initiatives in the coming quarters. And once again, thank you for your time and your support. Have a great day.

是的。非常感謝你。我剛剛意識到你說這將是最後一個問題。所以無論如何，我感謝大家的問題。感謝您全年的支持。我們為 2021 年的成績感到無比自豪，這證明了整個 Silvergate 團隊的持續努力。我們已經建立了具有多種增長槓桿的多元化收入流。展望 2022 年及以後，我們將繼續看到為我們的數字貨幣客戶提供創新解決方案的巨大機會。我們期待在未來幾個季度分享我們戰略增長計劃的更多更新。再次感謝您的時間和支持。祝你有美好的一天。